Sound City

source: Sound City

I am an enormous fan of music and devour all things related, even if not the style of music I enjoy. Having said that I was unsure I would like this movie as I am generally not a fan of Nirvana or Foo Fighters. While working late on a data migration project and watching validations occur each 5-minutes I went to Amazon and looked for movies. This was never top on my list but I am happy I watched it. The history and musical weight behind this project was astounding and well worth a viewing. I will watch it again and again. The history, talent, music and sheer joy shown by those in the film are worth the 1.5-hours invested. The artists who appeared in the film (not light-weights but heavy hitters) showed great respect for Sun City and the art produced there. If you are even a tangential fan of music this is appointment viewing. Dave G put together a compelling and historical piece with great respect and reverence. I went out and found some great recordings as a result and walked away with new respect for Dave and the passion he and others truly have for the craft that has allowed them to make a living. Well done, sir.

When he left Seattle with his band Nirvana in the early 1990s, drummer Dave Grohl was initially excited his group would be recording their first major label album at famous Sound City recording studios in Van Nuys, CA...that is, until he saw the place. Described by many as "a real s***hole," the cluttered, crowded studio--downwind of a brewery!--was considered outdated by 1992, but was about to experience a resurrection after Nirvana's "Nevermind" went to number-one. Now closed for business, Sound City's history is fascinatingly laid-out by director and co-producer Grohl, who charts the studio's early successes beginning in 1973 with help from the artists who were there (Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Rick Springfield). Grohl--who purchased Sound City's revolutionary analog mixing console, the Neve 8028, and moved it into his home studio--proves to have a surprisingly sentimental side for the ramshackle place and its colorful crew, but comes up short on narrative (at one point, engineer Keith Olsen defects and opens his own studio "next door," but we never see the studio and aren't told of its fate). The documentary's third act, with Grohl and his all-star friends recording a hard-rocking tribute album to Sound City using the Neve, is stretched out too far and stalls the nostalgic momentum, but otherwise this is a respectful, thoughtfully-composed and moving musical journal. *** from ****

There is something of a disconnect in this film. One of the main themes is that you need to get musicians together in one room (the studio) to make great music, yet so many records made at Sound City were anodyne, Adult Oriented Rock albums. REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar and Bachman Turner Overdrive were all acts that recorded at Sound City. Most of the film is a straightforward documentary featuring present day interviews over archive photographs. But the end section gets really self-indulgent. Stevie Nicks reading out a letter she wrote to her folks while recording her first album is particularly cringe worthy, and a long jam session with Paul McCartney, who never recorded at Sound City in the first place, could have been much shorter.

The best thing about this documentary is how the studio Sound City gained a legendary status: it took two crucial, million-selling records. Fleetwood Mac, looking for a studio, heard the recording of singing couple Bukingham and Nicks. Not only were they sure they found the right place, but also the right people to complete the band. The album called Rumours is where it all gets together. The second album is of course Nevermind by Nirvana, through which Sound City survived its demise in the digital eighties. Unfortunately, the studio is closed now. Luckily Dave Grohl got the mix board, and made a film about it.Made out of love for music, sound,and analogue, this rockumentary is highly entertaining, and not just for music aficionados.

This, essentially is one mans love poem to a mixing desk, and from such an unlikely premise something very special indeed is born. Dave Grohl's (Nirvana, Foo's) directorial debut (this is one talented and VERY cool guy) revolves around the legendary and infamous ("i felt i could take a pee in the corner and no one would mind" as one protagonist fondly remembers) recording studio Sound City and in particular it's custom made Neeve mixing desk, which really becomes the star of the show (one of the standout moments is the interview with creator Rupert Neeve, quite obviously a genius, trying to explain to a stunned, star struck Grohl the finer points of transistor based thermo dynamics) Think of the great rock albums from the 70s to the 90s and chances are many of them were recorded there, Fleetwood Mac joined forces with Buckingham/Nicks there, Nevermind was recorded there, and Rick Sprinfield's dog bit chunks out of the wall, the place just dripped music history and this is caught wonderfully by Grohl and a veritable who's who of the musical pantheon, all who obviously loved the place and the music they recorded there,the love and care these people put into their creations is breathtaking. (spoilers) And to top it off after Grohl has bought the Neeve and installed it into his own studio he invites these same musical luminaries for an extended jam and recording session, if you ever need reminding what REAL musicians look like then just watch the interplay between Grohl/Trent Reznor and Josh Holme, genuinely inspiring, and McCartney (who i have never been a huge fan of) just f..kin ROCKS. Warm, inspiring, informative and laugh out loud funny (the priceless moment when Butch Vig mutters "yeah Butch, tell Paul McCartney what to do" is worth the price of admission alone) this could well be the finest documentary about musicians and making music ever made, it's a bold claim, but this is one fine film.

So as a recording engineer that loves seeing gear and is obsessed with the magic of recording... I enjoyed it. I am a big fan of the book of work that comes out of Sound City and enjoyed a lot of the musicians in the movie. I did, however, feel that the movie lacked initiative at times. It was confused between being a Neve documentary, a group of musicians performing, a slam on digital recording, or a documentary about the history of Sound City. This could be part of its charm but it wasn't glued together as well as I would have liked. Now I do have an unpopular opinion about Dave Grohl in the recording realm. I think he is one of the best musicians and rock musicians to date. But his opinions on recording are ill informed. His rigid stance against digital recording is silly and if we all had millions of dollars to hire people to cut tape then I'm sure we would, too. Feel free to read more here http://digitalrecordingschool.com/sound-city-documentary/

I've never been a huge fan of Nirvana or Foo Fighters (I do like a few things here and there but overall they're not my thing) but as a person I have a lot of respect for Dave Grohl. He seems like a great guy and it's really cool how he's dipping into film with his directorial debut Sound City, a documentary about the studio which is home to Nevermind, Rumours and all kinds of classics. I had no idea about these connections. I love a good Fleetwood Mac origin story, so although it was a few things I knew, it was still interesting. The first half works as a great chronological account of anecdotes, focusing on acts like Fleetwood Mac and Rick Springfield, and the highs and lows of the company. It really showed how Sound City was unique for its Neve soundboard and makes me want to seek them out. The documentary is shown in a very typically MTV way with its graphics and soundtrack but it makes it very entertaining (even if there's a very irritating use of flashing frames back and forth). However, the last half hour is devoted to the recording of the Sound City soundtrack that Grohl collaborates with artists formerly mentioned and as we only get snippets of each track, it feels like it's simply an endorsement to buy the soundtrack and it knocks the doc down a peg. Still a good start to 2013. 7/10

If you're on this page, you should check it out. The style of the movie is fast-paced, cool graphics, and testimonials from rock/punk musicians. It's got a couple of major themes: Analog vs Digital = how music made today with pro tools and digital recording eliminates the human element. There are some 'pros' to the digital era: it's easier for people to make music, less expensive, more 'perfection' The movie discusses though endless and endless takes artists like Tom Petty had to do to achieve a 'perfect' recording, which has imperfections that make them classic. The movie also takes you through the crazy history of Sound City recording studio. I'm always looking for interesting business stories and this film provides that. Not to often you 'connect the dots' with Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, and Nirvana. I also liked learning about how a studio works, from the 'runner' to the producer. That fascinates me. The final part of the movie is recording of the Sound City soundtrack. The one criticism I have is it trashes pro tools but says Trent Reznor uses them more artistically but never explains how. Finally, one thing I realized is that musicians are some of the best entrepreneurs we have. They take HUGE risks that can have huge rewards/payoffs. They also think big. The idea of 'Nirvana' was a bigger, longer lasting, and had more impact than a new line of Tide or a soft drink.

Sound City is a documentary about the famed recording studio in Van Nuys, California, which was the origin of records by Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Rick Springfield and Tom Petty among many others. Rock musician Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, sets out to tell the story of a recording studio in his first film. The studio became famous for a single piece of recording equipment — a 1970s era sound board — that became a "hope diamond" for musicians. Sound City is a musical time machine that allows film and music enthusiasts to travel back through time to when music was recorded with raw, pure imperfections that led to many remarkable careers. It made me want to throw out my iPad and computer, and start typing on a type writer while rocking out to the Sound City soundtrack.